Archimago
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I know the Barrow-downs have long since faded in the distance behind us, but I found during my catch-up binge that one minor issue about the hobbits' sartorial adventure with the Barrow-wight still bugs me. What really did happen to their clothes, and why won't Tom tell them?
In the Episode 44 discussion, it's suggested that Tom's main goal is to discourage the hobbits from trying to retrieve their clothes from the barrow. Very sensible, but that explanation doesn't quite feel right to me. Rather, I get the impression that Tom is trying to distract them from wondering too much about what happened to their clothes.
Tom ignores Pippin's Why question, suggesting instead they should simply be glad to have escaped (which is good advice, but that's not what Pippin was asking about). I have a few guesses as to why Tom is being so cagey.
First, the hobbit's clearly view the idea of losing their clothes somewhat lightly: Pippin is half amused, and even Sam looks as if he expects to find a neatly-folded pile of clothes close by. They are about as far as one could possibly be from imagining the horrors of being dragged unconscious into a tomb and stripped naked by cold, dead hands. I think this alone would be sufficient reason for Tom to dissuade them from thinking too much about their clothes: they're already recovering from the horror of their experience (hobbit resilience!) and Tom doesn't want to remind them of it.
I also think it's quite possible that their clothes are not in neatly-folded piles; rather, they may have been cut off with a knife and are now lying in tatters (carefully undoing buttons on a waistcoat seems a bit dainty for a Barrow-wight). Certainly this realization (if true) would have been even more horrifying.
Finally, I have one more idea that seems like a bit of a leap but which nevertheless seems plausible to me. The hobbits are dressed in the cerements of the tomb's original inhabitants as part of the Barrow-wight's dreadful ritual. I wonder if the hobbit's garments were then used to clothe the corpses from which the wight took the grave-wrappings. It would add a nice bit of symmetry, which is always something you want in a ritual. Admittedly, hobbit-garments would not fit Man-sized skeletons very well; I imagine Sam's waistcoat was left unbuttoned. But for purposes of evil spell-casting, I expect it would suffice.
In the Episode 44 discussion, it's suggested that Tom's main goal is to discourage the hobbits from trying to retrieve their clothes from the barrow. Very sensible, but that explanation doesn't quite feel right to me. Rather, I get the impression that Tom is trying to distract them from wondering too much about what happened to their clothes.
"You won't find your clothes again," said Tom...
"What do you mean?" asked Pippin, looking at him, half puzzled and half amused. "Why not?"
But Tom shook his head, saying: "You've found yourselves again, out of the deep water. Clothes are but little loss, if you escape from drowning..."
"What do you mean?" asked Pippin, looking at him, half puzzled and half amused. "Why not?"
But Tom shook his head, saying: "You've found yourselves again, out of the deep water. Clothes are but little loss, if you escape from drowning..."
Tom ignores Pippin's Why question, suggesting instead they should simply be glad to have escaped (which is good advice, but that's not what Pippin was asking about). I have a few guesses as to why Tom is being so cagey.
First, the hobbit's clearly view the idea of losing their clothes somewhat lightly: Pippin is half amused, and even Sam looks as if he expects to find a neatly-folded pile of clothes close by. They are about as far as one could possibly be from imagining the horrors of being dragged unconscious into a tomb and stripped naked by cold, dead hands. I think this alone would be sufficient reason for Tom to dissuade them from thinking too much about their clothes: they're already recovering from the horror of their experience (hobbit resilience!) and Tom doesn't want to remind them of it.
I also think it's quite possible that their clothes are not in neatly-folded piles; rather, they may have been cut off with a knife and are now lying in tatters (carefully undoing buttons on a waistcoat seems a bit dainty for a Barrow-wight). Certainly this realization (if true) would have been even more horrifying.
Finally, I have one more idea that seems like a bit of a leap but which nevertheless seems plausible to me. The hobbits are dressed in the cerements of the tomb's original inhabitants as part of the Barrow-wight's dreadful ritual. I wonder if the hobbit's garments were then used to clothe the corpses from which the wight took the grave-wrappings. It would add a nice bit of symmetry, which is always something you want in a ritual. Admittedly, hobbit-garments would not fit Man-sized skeletons very well; I imagine Sam's waistcoat was left unbuttoned. But for purposes of evil spell-casting, I expect it would suffice.
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